Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Justified seems more and more like a regular police procedural each week. Raylan is given a task to catch fugitives, the fugitives aren't the smartest people, someone gets shot, and Raylan completes the task in the end. In and of itself, it's not that impressive. One has to wonder why people like Tim Goodman who write off procedurals continue to value the show so highly. From the first four episodes, Justified is a glorified police procedural that has a heavier reliance on characters than the usual procedural elements.

Raylan and Rachel travel to Los Angeles in pursuit of Roland Pike, a former cartel accountant who pulled some loser's gold teeth without anesthetic. Roland and his air-headed receptionist Mindy run off. What makes the show work is the personalities of the fugitives who are featured quite a bit. Roland is a good guy who wants to help kids, but he's also a little unstable. There is something very human about these people who are on the wrong side of the law, but in the end Roland gives himself up.

Initially, it looked like we would learn more about Rachel, but she is largely ignored in the second half of the episode, so Raylan can do his weekly confrontation and drop a few criminals. It seemed like "Long in the Tooth" would be a perfect opportunity to ease another character into the mix. Instead, Rachel is just another person I don't care about.